MGNREGS Workers under RSBY

The Government is planning to extend Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to such Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) workers as have completed 15 days or more during the previous financial year. The premium will be shared between Central and State Government in the ratio of 75:25. In case of States of North-East region and Jammu and Kashmir, the premium will be shared in the ratio of 90:10. Additionally, the cost of smart card of Rs. 60 will be borne by the Central Government. The worker will not be required to pay any premium and will have to pay Rs. 30 only as registration fee.

A statement showing the number of BPL families covered under RSBY is as under:

Sl. No.	Name of the State/UTs	Smart card issued
		2008-2009	2009-2010	2010-11 (upto 28.02.2011)
1.	Arunachal Pradesh	-	-	13,365
2.	Assam	-	81,565	2,04,465
3.	Bihar	5,57,002	20,38,909	46,00,079
4.	Chandigarh	3,627	5,407	4,913
5.	Chhattisgarh	-	9,27,672	10,92,647
6.	Delhi	41,990	2,18,055	2,18,055
7.	Goa	1,679	3,505	0
8.	Gujarat	6,70,517	6,82,354	19,19,086
9.	Haryana	4,01,587	6,82,354	6,03,609
10.	Himachal Pradesh	78,370	115828	2,37,946
11.	Jharkhand	1,01,219	4,34762	12,44,366
12.	Karnataka	-	36,971	1,57,405
13.	Kerala	7,03,570	11,73,388	*17,96,315
14.	Maharashtra	1,35,804	14,40,407	15,90,048
15.	Manipur	-	-	18,259
16.	Meghalaya	-	22,579	50,271
17.	Mizoram			15240
18.	Nagaland	7,645	39,301	39,290
19.	Orissa	-	3,41,653	4,33,079
20.	Punjab	76,528	1,69,306	1,92,544
21.	Rajasthan	1,20,123	Discontinued the scheme
22.	Tamil Nadu	57,925	1,49,520	0
23.	Tripura	-	1,45,780	2,58,402
24.	Uttar Pradesh	8,34,871	42,96,865	46,76,797
25.	Uttarakhand	50,071	53,940	3,13,840
26.	West Bengal	1,19,327	8,02,974	35,04,475
	Total	39,61,855	1,38,65,338	2,31,84,496

The scheme has been extended to building and other construction workers registered under the Building and other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act, 1996 and street vendors.

The Government proposes to extend RSBY to MGNREGA beneficiaries, beedi workers and also to unorganized sector workers in hazardous mining and associated industries like slate and slate pencil, dolomite, mica and asbestos etc.

This information was given by Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister for Labour And Employment in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

BPL Families under RSBY

The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is presently being implemented in 25 States/ Union Territories. More than 2.31 crore smart cards have been issued as on 28.02.2011. Out of this, 35,04,475 smart cards have been issued in West Bengal.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has reported that the state-wise data of population covered under health insurance in the country is not maintained by them. However, the number of unorganized workers covered under RSBY (state-wise) is annexed.

The scheme is being implemented in phased manner and efforts are being made to cover all BPL workers by 2012-2013. The premium is shared between Central and State Government in the ratio of 75:25. In case of States of North-East region and Jammu and Kashmir, the premium is shared in the ratio of 90:10. Additionally, the cost of smart card is borne by the Central Government. The Centre share of premium is released on the basis of smart cards issued. Expenditure incurred under the scheme so far is as under:-

Year	Amount of centre share released (Rs. in Crore)
2008-09	99.95
2009-10	262.51
2010-11(upto 28.02.2011 )	415.23

The benefits under the scheme include smart card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30000 to a BPL family of five on family floater basis to cover hospitalisaton expenses including maternity benefit and transport expenses of Rs. 100 per visit subject to maximum of Rs. 1000. The pre-existing diseases are also covered.

S.No.	Name of the State / Union Territories	Number of Active smart cards as on 28.02.2011
1.	Arunachal Pradesh	13,365
2.	Assam	2,04,465
3.	Bihar	46,00,079
4.	Chandigarh	4,913
5.	Chhattisgarh	10,92,647
6.	Delhi	2,18,055
7.	Goa	0
8.	Gujarat	19,19,086
9.	Haryana	6,03,609
10.	Himachal Pradesh	2,37,946
11.	Jharkhand	12,44,366
12.	Karnataka	1,57,405
13.	Kerala	*17,96,315
14.	Maharashtra	15,90,048
15.	Manipur	18,259
16.	Meghalaya	50,271
17.	Mizoram	15240
18.	Nagaland	39,290
19.	Orissa	4,33,079
20.	Punjab	1,92,544
21.	Tamil Nadu	0
22.	Tripura	2,58,402
23.	Uttar Pradesh	46,76,797
24.	Uttarakhand	3,13,840
25.	West Bengal	35,04,475
	Total	2,31,84,496

Progress of Welfare Schemes for the Minorities

Progress of Welfare Schemes for the Minorities The Lok Sabha has been informed that in 2007-08, against the plan budget (Revised Estimates) of Rs. 350 crore for the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Rs. 196.65 crore (58.18%) were released to States / UTs for implementation of schemes for welfare of minorities. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Shri Vincent H. Pala, Minister of State for Minority Affairs, said that in 2008-09, the plan budget (Revised Estimates) was enhanced to Rs. 650 crore, of which Rs. 619.02 crore (95.23%) were released. In 2009-10, the plan budget (Revised Estimates) was further increased to a level of Rs. 1,740 core and Rs. 1,710.89 crore (98.33%) were released. The plan budget for the year 2010-11 is Rs. 2,500 crore (Revised Estimates) and so far Rs. 1,721.84 crore (68.87%) have been released.

Shri Pala also informed the House that the Government has introduced a number of schemes for improving the status of minorities and these include Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme, Post-matric Scholarship Scheme, Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme for technical and professional courses, Maulana Azad National Fellowship for research scholars, Free Coaching & Allied Scheme for students from the minority communities and a special area development programme called Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) in 90 minority concentration districts. In addition to these, the corpus of Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) and authorized share capital of the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC) have been enhanced from Rs. 100 crore and Rs. 650 crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 550 crore and Rs. 1000 crore in 2010-11, respectively. Further, under the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the welfare of minorities, it has been ensured that wherever possible, 15% targets and outlays under various schemes amenable to targeting have been earmarked for minorities and a certain proportion of development projects are located in minority concentration areas.